In June, a jury rules that Johnny Depp must pay Amber Heard $2 million in damages. The Hollywood star doesn't want to put up with it and is challenging this part of the verdict. His ex-wife is also opposed to the guilty verdict.
US actor Johnny Depp has appealed part of the jury's verdict in the defamation trial between himself and his ex-wife Amber Heard. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star's legal team submitted the application to an appeals court in Fairfax County, Virginia, US media reported. The jury's decision that Depp should pay Heard $2 million in damages was flawed, the attorneys in the document allege.
After a six-week defamation trial, in which the former spouses had accused themselves of domestic violence, the jury largely sided with Depp at the beginning of June - but also agreed with Heard on some points. The actress Depp has to pay more than ten million dollars in damages for defamation. Depp, in turn, owes her two million dollars for statements by his ex-lawyer Adam Waldman that are said to have damaged Heard's reputation.
In a 2020 newspaper interview, Waldman described allegations of abuse made by Heard as fraudulent. The actress took it as defamation. Depp argued that he was not responsible for his attorney's statements.
Heard is also opposed to the guilty verdict. In July, she initially failed with an application to have the judgment overturned. An appeal is now pending. The court made a mistake and thus prevented a fair judgment, argues Heard's team.
At the heart of the civil lawsuit filed by Depp was a 2018 comment published by the Washington Post in which Heard described himself as a victim of domestic violence. Depp was branded a victim of false statements and sued for defamation for $50 million. Heard countered with a $100 million claim. She claimed that Depp's lawyer Waldman had damaged her reputation with a smear campaign.
